A blockchain may be used as a public ledger to store any type of information. Although, primarily used for financial transactions, a blockchain can store any type of information including assets (i.e., products, packages, services, status, etc.). A decentralized scheme transfers authority and trust to a decentralized network and enables its nodes to continuously and sequentially record their transactions on a public “block”, creating a unique “chain” referred to as a blockchain. Cryptography, via hash codes, is used to secure an authentication of a transaction source and removes a central intermediary.
A blockchain is a distributed database that maintains a continuously-growing list of records in the blockchain blocks, which are secured from tampering and revision due to their immutable properties. Each block contains a timestamp and a link to a previous block. A blockchain can be used to hold, track, transfer and verify any information. Because a blockchain is a distributed system, before adding a transaction to a blockchain ledger, all peers need to reach a consensus status, however, the process of consensus requires a certain amount of time. The more peers added to a blockchain network, the longer the time that is spent to reach a consensus status. In general, a blockchain cannot process high frequency transactions.